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Friday, May 28, 2010

My Altered State of Consciousness...

By Robin Kaye

Joanne recently wrote a blog about falling in love and the altered state of consciousness that is brought about by infatuation. This is something I tend to suffer from with every one of my heroes. Joanne’s blog was wonderful and as all great blogs do, it got me thinking. Always dangerous, I know.

The one question I’m usually asked by readers and interviewers alike is which of my heroes is my favorite? The answer I always want to give is the next one. I have a nasty habit of falling in love with my next hero—the one hero I’m not supposed to be writing about. I’ll be writing one book, and a secondary character will invariably appear and steal my heart. I’m fickle that way when it comes to fictional men. I’m just lucky that hasn’t been my problem in real life. If it were, I doubt I'd still be happily married to the same man for over 20 years.

When I wrote Yours For the Taking, which will be released in January, 2011, I met a bevy of new characters—several of which were my hero, Ben Walsh’s cousins; Trapper, Fisher, Hunter, and Karma Kincaid.

As I am wont to do, I fell head over heels in love with Trapper Kincaid. The man just knocked my socks off. He was new and exciting—probably because I hadn’t known him through two books like I had Ben. There was still so much to learn about Trapper. As his character appeared on my computer screen, I became more and more infatuated. By that time, poor Ben was like a tried and true beau. I already knew all there was to know about him, and although I loved him, the bloom was off the rose. But Trapper was, and still is, a mystery to me in so many ways. I couldn’t wait to finish writing Yours For the Taking so I could write about Trapper.

As always, real life intervened. In order to sell my new Domestic Gods Gone Wild series, I had to write a proposal. I’m a real seat-of-the-pants writer, so for me, writing a proposal is difficult at best because it involves nasty things like synopses. This proposal proved to be almost impossible.

For the life of me, I couldn’t come up with a heroine for Trapper. I racked my brain to find a woman deserving of the incredible man that Trapper had become. She would have to be smart, funny, and someone who could make Trapper want to commit for more than his usual 72-hour affair. You see, Trapper finds it difficult to stay committed and well, nice, for more than 72-hours at a stretch. I doubted my ability to create such a woman, or maybe it was the jealousy factor—I still want Trapper all to myself and, as wonderful as I am, I don’t think many readers would buy a younger, more slender version of me as a heroine.

But like most problems, there was a solution. I just couldn’t write Trapper’s book next. I get to keep him all to myself for as long as it takes to write one of his sibling’s books. Lucky for me, the perfect heroine for Trapper’s brother, Hunter popped into my head along with a plot that demands the book be written at a time when all Hunter’s siblings are single. Together, Toni Russo and Hunter Kincaid are explosive and I can’t think of a time I’ve had more fun playing with my characters. They are both a real departure from my normal heroine and hero. Hunter is the strong silent type, and while Toni is normally feisty and independent; in the book, she’s completely out of her element and has to overcome a life-long fear.

Now I’m hoping that by the time I’ve written Hunter and Toni’s book, I’ll have Trapper out of my system enough to find the perfect heroine for him, if not, I guess there are always Fisher and Karma’s books. Someday, I’ll look back and think of Trapper as a tried and true beau, but until then, I’ll happily dip my toes into the raging river of my infatuation with him. Sigh, ain’t love grand?

So, tell me what fictional characters have you fallen desperately love with? Oh, and how long did it take for you to get over that little problem…just curious.

13 comments:

It might be considered an odd thing to fall in love with one of your own characters - slightly pygmalian-esque (that's a word -right?). But I confess to doing it too! Besides, my heros feel very real to me! And yes, my head has been turned by a secondary character - they tend to get all the best lines!

I'm like you, Robin, with being a total pantser. While I'm writing the story, I can deepen the characters, the plot twists, etc. Trying to come up that without writing part of the book is really hard for me to do. By writing the previous story, I'll come up with ideas that help me to create a new story that I wouldn't have come up with without writing the previous story! :)

Good morning, Amanda~ Oh yeah, Trapper got all the best lines. I have to tell you, I'm jonesen on him in a big way.

Terry~ I went to a workshop given by Roxanne St. Claire (she's giving it at Nationals and it's not to be missed) Anyway, it turns out she writes exactly the same way I do. She's a planster (her word not mine) She starts out with a vague idea with two or three points and starts writing, as more things come to her, she adds points to her plot-line. For me, I start out with what I call a Story-Line Synopsis I know the beginning, one or two things in the middle and the end, everything else is a mystery. As new things come to me, setting, dialogue, or just the gist of the scene, I stick them in my story-line synopsis and keep writing. When I get to the new idea, sometimes I just need to cut and paste, sometimes I need to write the scene. Whatever it is, it works for me. Then I asked Rocki the all important question. How do you write a proposal? She said, "Yeah, there's the rub."

That happened to me when I wrote Rogue. Tychar was a totally sexy charmer, but his brother, Trag, got all the good lines and stole my heart. In the revisions, many of Trag's lines had to go to Tychar, but in my next book, Hero, Trag gets them all.

I have several secondary characters who deserve stories of their own, at least as far as I am concerned. Some I have woven into the Saga, such as Colonel Fitzwilliam. But Georgiana Darcy is getting her own story. Hopefully someday I can write the life of Dr. George Darcy. That is my ultimate dream as he is wonderful and I absolutely adore him!

Keep them coming, Robin. I know your fans want to read all about your Domestic Gods.

Thanks for the compliment on my blog, Robin! I'm so flattered!I'm with Kathryne - I've fallen hard for my last hero. Teague in Cowboy Fever is a lot more tormented and alpha than most of my guys, and hot! It's going to be hard to move on...I'm sure looking forward to Trapper, though, and all his hunky cousins!

Well for me the character is named Dash Randall, and he shows up in every single one of my Last Chance books. He's strong, silent, looks like George Strait, wears a Stetson and used to play professional baseball before he got into the business of raising horses. What is not to like?

I have to struggle every time Dash has a scene with any of my heroines. He so wants to be hero, and I'm afraid his time hasn't yet come.

Danielle~ Thanks, I just love their names too. Especially Karma's. One of my best friends best friend was named Karma and I thought it was the absolute coolest name imaginable. When I named the boys, I had to find a girls name to top it. Karma did it for me!

Hope~

I think Dash is awesome too. Do you have a problem because Dash tries to take over, or because you're not ready to let him go? Hmm... Inquiring minds want to know. LOL